The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola within the US has died, Texas hospital officials have said.
Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, who caught the virus in his native Liberia, was being treated with an experimental drug in isolation in a Dallas hospital.Earlier the US announced new screening measures at entry points to check travellers for symptoms of the virus.
It has killed 3,865 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, in the worst Ebola outbreak yet.
"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 am," a spokesman for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas said in a statement.
"Our thoughts today are with his family," said US President Barack Obama, who said his death showed "we don't have a lot of margin for error. If we don't follow protocols and procedures that are put in place, then we're putting folks in our communities at risk".
The news came shortly after US Secretary of State John Kerry urged all nations to boost their response to combat the virus."More countries can and must step up," he said in a joint press
conference with his British counterpart Philip Hammond.
No comments:
Post a Comment